Author
Topic: Vendor Review: kbdhub (Read 45721 times)

The purpose of a vendor forum on geekhack is to provide vendors both small and large a place to interact with their customers (our community), resolve issues, and post news about their goods. It is the expectation of the community that the vendors we give space to are trustworthy, timely, and are actually interested in communicating with our members.

Recently, there has been a lack of communication by sethk_, many users have expressed concern about items not being shipped, and have been concerned about the lack of a visible storefront or online presence. Sethk_ will be given 48 hours to respond to this post in a satisfactory manner, or we will have to consider revoking vendor status. A copy of this post has also been sent by email.

Community members, please feel free to respond to this announcement with your comments.

To his last communication where he stated his plans for resolving the current outstanding items.

Logged

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

sethk_ has always been a pleasure to deal with, very helpfull and seemingly hard working : taking lot of orders and building a various number of board for GH user (if the user that had boards built by him would show up that would be nice too).

We were talking daily through skype and knowing his young age I was finding it odd how many **** he was able to buy (clothes, pricy boards & keycaps ... ) even if he has a shop and seemed to build boards all week long. In the latest day before he stopped communicating he was trying to sell stuff that I would have never imagined him selling (favorite board, and other various items), so it got me intrigued.

That was for the background.

I proxied two europeans board for him on my money expecting to get it back later on the shipping of a Viper he sold me. But the Viper shipping got delayed forever. So I was getting worried of loosing this proxy money (that wasn't under any paypal protection).

So I had 2 payments under paypal protection (leds GB and Viper) but 100€ out on which I couldn't use any protection.

This got me really worried and I started the thread above. I had to go public because I knew he could possibly get more stuff send to him and it wasn't right for people to be uninformed about the situation. (I tried to talk in private with moderator but never had answer).

With no answers to the thread, I transformed my paypal disputes into claims. He finally talked to me on skype thursday telling me that my Viper was moving. I hadn't checked the tracking in forever and it's indeed moving my way. I wait on receiving it then will pay him back what I owe him (Viper price+ shipping of Viper - proxy) as my paypal claims will most likely get me my money refunded.And that should be the end of the situation for me.

Seth claims to have sent out my board on Thursday (I'm the Kmac guy), but the shipping information still has not updated past "Pre-Shipment". But he has been communicating, although not much lately, and I really hope to have this sorted out quickly.

He since then maintain very minimal communication, or very little words on the communicationAnd one day just disappeared

Decided to open a dispute on paypal for one of the transaction late November and got a respond saying that he will be sending the item on the 4th of December, and asked me to close the disputeI replied saying that I will be waiting for the tracking no, and will only close the dispute if the item is in "transit" - since some members experienced misleading tracking label from him

No news since then, and on the 9th of December he agreed to refund me

That's only one transaction of some, while the rest I could not dispute since it's already pass the regulated length

Seth claims to have sent out my board on Thursday (I'm the Kmac guy), but the shipping information still has not updated past "Pre-Shipment". But he has been communicating, although not much lately, and I really hope to have this sorted out quickly.

I have a $100 PP claim against him for the LED GB. I offered to help him ship via PM, and later directly in the thread after he asked for some help. I sent him another PM and later again posted in the thread before opening my dispute. It was open for 29 days with no response, even though I updated it twice asking for one. On the 29th day I escalated to a claim. He still hasn't responded to me once. The claim closes on the 19th, and I expect to be refunded via PP.

Seth claims to have sent out my board on Thursday (I'm the Kmac guy), but the shipping information still has not updated past "Pre-Shipment". But he has been communicating, although not much lately, and I really hope to have this sorted out quickly.

I replied saying that I will be waiting for the tracking no, and will only close the dispute if the item is in "transit" - since some members experienced misleading tracking label from him

for other people, use your paypal protection before it's too late.

Yea, I was hoping it was because he gave me the wrong tracking number, but he hasn't responded at all on Skype after telling me it was sent out on Thursday, and now it's Saturday and still not in transit. Especially since I need the board before Christmas because it's a gift

October 22, 2015: Sent a PM to sethk_ regarding status of inventory for immediate purchase.October 22, 2015: Received a response from sethk_ indicating that the 62G springs I'm interested in are in stock.October 22, 2015: Purchased two sets of 62G springs shortly after.October 26, 2015: I sent a PM to sethk_ regarding status of shipping and tracking.October 29, 2015: Sethk_ responded stating that my package will be shipped out on the same day.October 30, 2015: Received a PM from Sethk_ stating that my package was shipped and that tracking won't work for packages bound for Canada.October 30, 2015: Sent sethk_ a PM still requesting for a tracking number.October 30, 2015: Received a PM indicating that sethk_ is at school and that I'll receive a PM when he's home.November 1, 2015: Sent a follow up PM requesting for an update with the tracking number.November 4, 2015: Sent another follow up PM requesting for an update.November 5, 2015: Initiated a PayPal dispute claim.November 5, 2015: Received a PM from sethk_ indicating that he has troubles locating my tracking number and asks me to resend him my shipping information.November 5, 2015: I respond to sethk_'s PM by providing him with my information.November 5, 2015: Shortly after, I receive a tracking number and a screen shot of the shipping information. I notice that there's an error with my shipping information and that the label was created on November 6?November 5, 2015: Sethk_ states that the first package may have been lost and he'll send out a replacement package? At this point, I'm completely frustrated.November 6, 2015: I request for a refund.November 9, 2015: I receive a PM from sethk_ that my refund will be coming shortly.November 13, 2015: I receive a refund from PayPal.

While seth seems like he hasn't just completely vanished, and he's around and (relatively) active, it looks like there have been a lot of problems with various shipments and communication. To me it looks like maybe he just isn't up to the task handling a large amount of orders, which makes me think geekhack shouldn't be endorsing him as a vendor.

I was going to have him build a couple boards for me but since I saw posts about how he may not be fulfilling his duties, I have switched the shipping addresses on them. However, I have already sent him the zealios I wanted for him to put on my boards. He hasn't been responding to messages to ship them to me since November 24.

It's a bit late since the decision regarding his vendor status has been made but is there anything I can do to get my money back from Seth if I sent the money via family/friends? I figured nothing could go wrong given his vendor status but because of how I sent the money, I can't get paypal involved in this case. The only feasible way of getting my money back is getting him to refund me directly but he hasn't even replied to my last PM.

The events of my transaction are something along these lines: Contacted on /r/mechmarket > Exchanged money via paypal for 1 set of 62g springs > Waited 3 weeks, didn't receive them > Attempted to contact him though reddit, got no reply > contacted him on GH, got a reply days later saying wait a bit longer > Contacted him on GH saying they haven't arrived after a month > Got a reply a few days later saying he'll ship another set > Contacted him a month later because those ones haven't arrived yet and still have no reply to this day.

I ended up buying steel springs off a mechmarket user in my country when they appeared so I don't have a use for seth's springs anymore but I still want them since I paid for them. Either that or my money back pls

It's a bit late since the decision regarding his vendor status has been made but is there anything I can do to get my money back from Seth if I sent the money via family/friends? I figured nothing could go wrong given his vendor status but because of how I sent the money, I can't get paypal involved in this case. The only feasible way of getting my money back is getting him to refund me directly but he hasn't even replied to my last PM.

The events of my transaction are something along these lines: Contacted on /r/mechmarket > Exchanged money via paypal for 1 set of 62g springs > Waited 3 weeks, didn't receive them > Attempted to contact him though reddit, got no reply > contacted him on GH, got a reply days later saying wait a bit longer > Contacted him on GH saying they haven't arrived after a month > Got a reply a few days later saying he'll ship another set > Contacted him a month later because those ones haven't arrived yet and still have no reply to this day.

I ended up buying steel springs off a mechmarket user in my country when they appeared so I don't have a use for seth's springs anymore but I still want them since I paid for them. Either that or my money back pls

Did you pay with funds already in your account, or through your bank? You can try to go through your bank, but it may not do much good.

It's a bit late since the decision regarding his vendor status has been made but is there anything I can do to get my money back from Seth if I sent the money via family/friends? I figured nothing could go wrong given his vendor status but because of how I sent the money, I can't get paypal involved in this case. The only feasible way of getting my money back is getting him to refund me directly but he hasn't even replied to my last PM.

The events of my transaction are something along these lines: Contacted on /r/mechmarket > Exchanged money via paypal for 1 set of 62g springs > Waited 3 weeks, didn't receive them > Attempted to contact him though reddit, got no reply > contacted him on GH, got a reply days later saying wait a bit longer > Contacted him on GH saying they haven't arrived after a month > Got a reply a few days later saying he'll ship another set > Contacted him a month later because those ones haven't arrived yet and still have no reply to this day.

I ended up buying steel springs off a mechmarket user in my country when they appeared so I don't have a use for seth's springs anymore but I still want them since I paid for them. Either that or my money back pls

Did you pay with funds already in your account, or through your bank? You can try to go through your bank, but it may not do much good.

I paid through a bank account linked with paypal. Not much I can do, I can just hope Seth returns and honours our transaction :x

Love the TSM avatar by the way! As a fellow TSM fan, lets hope they do well this year with their roster

I know the (correct) decision has already been reached. Even so, i wanted to close the loop on my personal experience. PP refunded me this morning. Seth never responded to me once. PP also indicated that his account has a negative balance but that would not affect my refund.

I can't suggest strongly enough for people to open a claim if it is at all possible for them.

I know the (correct) decision has already been reached. Even so, i wanted to close the loop on my personal experience. PP refunded me this morning. Seth never responded to me once. PP also indicated that his account has a negative balance but that would not affect my refund.

I can't suggest strongly enough for people to open a claim if it is at all possible for them.

PP can't affect a credit score as far as I know. And he is a minor anyway.

If his account is linked with a credit card and his balance is in the negatives i think it will.

can a minor even have a CC? I haven't been one in a while.

Regardless, I'm sure his parents will get involved to help clear up this mess. One of the benifits to being a kid.

I dont think a minor can have a paypal account. Wasn't someone perma banned from paypal because they put fake details in to get an accont and when pp wanted the account verified they got banned. Could happen here also?

Around here? Haha. Give it ~6 months and if he showed up selling some more custom parts or boards etc you'll see more suckers lining up.

sadly, probably not wrong.

That's why I've been starting my own personal blacklist, I like to trust anybody but it only takes one to ruin it.

Sad knowing I'll probably never see my board again =( makes it hard to trust people online again

I like to have a little faith in him, he did end up finally shipping azhdar his board. I probably live pretty close to him, I wouldn't mind completing the projects for him so people can at least get their boards back. It's a shame he doesn't respond at all.

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

Paypal actually sends user account for collections if your balance goes negative after a certain period of time and I'm sure that the amount of money a user owes them is a great factor. This is one of the reason why sometimes going directly to a bank to cancel a payment or gift sent via paypal is bad because once the bank reverses that charge, the user's account has a - and can bring that account to a negative balance.

I like to have a little faith in him, he did end up finally shipping azhdar his board. I probably live pretty close to him, I wouldn't mind completing the projects for him so people can at least get their boards back. It's a shame he doesn't respond at all.

I like to have a little faith in him, he did end up finally shipping azhdar his board. I probably live pretty close to him, I wouldn't mind completing the projects for him so people can at least get their boards back. It's a shame he doesn't respond at all.

At this point this looks like a pretty great option lol

I had just sent sethk a pm stating that I would be glad to take over the projects as long as the owners of the items agree to do so. I have so much free time currently that I could knock out a couple a day. I will be heading back to college(2 hour drive) on January 10th but I also will be driving home every weekend. I also have a pretty awesome schedule for next semester where I have no classes after 12 p.m. on MWF so that gives me a lot of free time as well. I have built three boards, one including resistors and diodes, but have had experience in the past. On one of my previous posts I thought I would may have to take a leave of absence from geekhack but that has since change, in fact I actually have more free time than ever.

I like to have a little faith in him, he did end up finally shipping azhdar his board. I probably live pretty close to him, I wouldn't mind completing the projects for him so people can at least get their boards back. It's a shame he doesn't respond at all.

At this point this looks like a pretty great option lol

I had just sent sethk a pm stating that I would be glad to take over the projects as long as the owners of the items agree to do so. I have so much free time currently that I could knock out a couple a day. I will be heading back to college(2 hour drive) on January 10th but I also will be driving home every weekend. I also have a pretty awesome schedule for next semester where I have no classes after 12 p.m. on MWF so that gives me a lot of free time as well. I have built three boards, one including resistors and diodes, but have had experience in the past. On one of my previous posts I thought I would may have to take a leave of absence from geekhack but that has since change, in fact I actually have more free time than ever.

I like to have a little faith in him, he did end up finally shipping azhdar his board. I probably live pretty close to him, I wouldn't mind completing the projects for him so people can at least get their boards back. It's a shame he doesn't respond at all.

At this point this looks like a pretty great option lol

I had just sent sethk a pm stating that I would be glad to take over the projects as long as the owners of the items agree to do so. I have so much free time currently that I could knock out a couple a day. I will be heading back to college(2 hour drive) on January 10th but I also will be driving home every weekend. I also have a pretty awesome schedule for next semester where I have no classes after 12 p.m. on MWF so that gives me a lot of free time as well. I have built three boards, one including resistors and diodes, but have had experience in the past. On one of my previous posts I thought I would may have to take a leave of absence from geekhack but that has since change, in fact I actually have more free time than ever.

Hell, mine doesn't even need more work, just needs to be shipped

Well that's easy enough haha, it's a shame he can't even stop by the post office or even schedule for a pick-up. I am more than willing to help out, just hoping that he replies.

Still no reply from sethk_... I'm going to send another email, not that it will do any good.

He mentioned in a post from before that he won't be responding temporarily and he will instead focus on finishing out the stuff he needs to for other people.

Oh ok thank you for letting me know. I've been in contact with others who have better means of talking to him, I'm willing to do anything to help people get their items. Even with just shipping the items out, since he can't seem to schedule a pick-up but creates the shipping labels.